Molasses is a viscous by-product of the refining of sugar cane juice, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The properties of molasses obtained depend on the maturity of the source plant, the amount of sugar extracted and the method employed.
To make molasses from sugar cane, a juice is first extracted (usually by crushing or mashing, but also by cutting the plant). The juice is then boiled to concentrate it and promote the crystallisation of the sugars. The crystals are removed from this boiled solution to provide a first molasses (also referred to as light or fancy molasses). The first molasses has the highest sugar content and moisture content.
Second molasses is created from a second boiling and sugar extraction. Referred to as “medium” molasses, it has a slight bitter tinge to its taste, has a lower sugar and moisture content (e.g., it is more viscous) than light molasses.
The third boiling of the sugar syrup (and removal of sugar crystals) yields black strap molasses (also referred to as “dark” molasses), known for its robust flavor. In such molasses, the majority of sucrose from the original juice has been crystallised and removed. Unlike refined sugars, black strap molasses contains trace amounts of vitamins and significant amounts of several minerals.
Molasses made from sugar beet is different from sugar cane molasses. Only the syrup left from the final crystallization stage is called molasses; intermediate syrups are referred to as high green and low green, and these are recycled within the crystallisation plant to maximize extraction. Beet molasses is about 50% sugar by dry weight, predominantly sucrose, but also contains significant amounts of glucose and fructose. The non-sugar content includes many salts, such as calcium, potassium, oxalate, and chloride. It also contains the compounds betaine and the trisaccharide raffinose. These are either as a result of concentration from the original plant material or as a result of chemicals used in the processing, and make it unpalatable to humans. Hence it is mainly used as an additive to animal feed (called “molassed sugar beet feed”) or as a fermentation feedstock.
It is know in the art that reducing the water content of molasses (which typically has an initial water content of between about 28% to 35% (w/w) to around 5% (w/w)) is relatively routine and typically used for animal feed (U.S. Pat. No. 2,089,062 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,081, for example). However, it has also been previously taught in the art that reducing the water content of molasses to below 1% (w/w) is challenging, especially because the heat used to dehydrate the product tends to caramelize, invert, burn and/or crystallize the sugars of the molasses product and therefore, generates unwanted/unpleasant organoleptic properties (U.S. Pat. No. 1,983,434). Further, some dehydration processes, due to the use of a temperature higher than 121° C. (for examples, those described in PCT/US2011/065567 published under WO 2012/083208 as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,377), can also cause the destructions of nutritional elements present in the molasses (vitamin B6, for example).
Since the applications of molasses in a liquid form are limited and costly, it would be highly desirable to be provided with a molasses product processed into a solid form and therefore, having a low water (e.g. moisture) content. In addition, it would also be desirable to be provided with a molasses product which does exhibit the flavor profile of the liquid untreated/hydrated molasses. It would also be desirable to obtain a dehydrated molasses product which is a flowable liquid at elevated temperature (in order to facilitate handling of the product) and a solid room temperature (in order to facilitate processing and use of the product). It would also be desirable to be provided with a process for obtaining such molasses product and which would preferably avoid foaming of the treated molasses during the water removal step as well as limit the degradation of nutritional elements (such as vitamins and minerals) present in the molasses.